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It would be easy for desert golf fans to be a little smug about word that the Chevron Championship is moving to a new course in Houston after just three years.
After all, the tournament was played for 51 years at the same course in the Coachella Valley, the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. When the major championship left the desert after the 2022 season, plenty of desert fans wagged their fingers at the LPGA, saying in essence the LPGA didn’t know what it was turning its back on in the pursuit of Chevron’s millions of sponsorship dollars.
Three years later, Chevron is still with the LPGA, but the major championship will be on its third course in five years, which is not particularly a good look when that same tournament was on the same course – a course popular with the players – for five decades.
More: LPGA's future in the desert, growing game for fans part of new commissioner's focus
Here’s a look at the news of the move of the former desert event:
Without question the LPGA’s major in the desert needed to be spruced up a bit in its closing days. The tournament had gone to Japanese airline ANA as its sponsor to save the event after Kraft let its sponsorship expire, but few people knew who or what ANA was. Chevron became the sponsor in 2022, but that was part of a deal to move the event to Texas. Galleries were down from a decade before, and the tournament needed some refreshing. But by moving to Houston with Chevron, more questions sprang up. What if Chevron decides to end its sponsorship, as ANA and Kraft did? What about the appeal of the new course? Once the big changes were made to end the event’s time in the Coachella Valley, more changes were bound to follow.
Okay, this might be the best of the news. The tournament has been played on the Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, since 2023. That was a good golf course, but never mentioned among the best golf courses in the country. For 2026, the event is moving to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. Yes, it is a municipally owned golf course, but it is hardly a muni. It is, in fact, the home of the PGA Tour’s Texas Children’s Houston Open. Having an LPGA event on a course used by the PGA Tour is a win for the women’s tour. The PGA Tour event will be played in Late March, the LPGA major in late April.
The jump into Poppie’s Pond next to the 18th green on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course was the trademark of the LPGA major championship, sure to get even SportsCenter on EPSN to show an LPGA highlight. But the leap, started by Amy Alcott and her caddie after her 1988 win in Rancho Mirage, basically ended when the tournament moved to Houston. You can't transplant a lake. Yes, there was a lake on the 18th hole at Carlton Woods, but the tournament had to build a little pier for the players to leap from, and the leap was away from the spectators. Now comes the move to Memorial Park, where there is no lake on the 18th hole. So without a portable swimming pool, the leap that was basically dead after the 2022 move will soon be officially dead.
When Kraft let its contract with the tournament expire after the 2014 event, golf management firm IMG came to the rescue to take over the event. But that also will be changing in 2026. IMG is out as operator of the tournament, and a GolfWeek story said the LPGA wants to own the tournament itself. The Astros Golf Foundation, which is involved with the revival of the PGA Tour in Houston, may also operate the LPGA event in coming years. IMG was not universally loved in its time in the desert, but it did save the tournament that could easily have ended after 2014.
So changes came to the LPGA event in the desert after 51 years, and now changes are coming to the Chevron Championship in Houston after just three years. Okay, the tournament in Houston has had little connection left to the event in Rancho Mirage. But golf fans in the desert have to still be wondering exactly why the sponsors and the LPGA couldn’t work a deal to keep some stability in the first major of the year.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Facebook or on X at @larry_bohannan.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: After leaving desert, LPGA's Chevron Championship facing more changes
Continue reading...
After all, the tournament was played for 51 years at the same course in the Coachella Valley, the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. When the major championship left the desert after the 2022 season, plenty of desert fans wagged their fingers at the LPGA, saying in essence the LPGA didn’t know what it was turning its back on in the pursuit of Chevron’s millions of sponsorship dollars.
Three years later, Chevron is still with the LPGA, but the major championship will be on its third course in five years, which is not particularly a good look when that same tournament was on the same course – a course popular with the players – for five decades.
More: LPGA's future in the desert, growing game for fans part of new commissioner's focus
Here’s a look at the news of the move of the former desert event:
Change breeds change
Without question the LPGA’s major in the desert needed to be spruced up a bit in its closing days. The tournament had gone to Japanese airline ANA as its sponsor to save the event after Kraft let its sponsorship expire, but few people knew who or what ANA was. Chevron became the sponsor in 2022, but that was part of a deal to move the event to Texas. Galleries were down from a decade before, and the tournament needed some refreshing. But by moving to Houston with Chevron, more questions sprang up. What if Chevron decides to end its sponsorship, as ANA and Kraft did? What about the appeal of the new course? Once the big changes were made to end the event’s time in the Coachella Valley, more changes were bound to follow.
The golf course
Okay, this might be the best of the news. The tournament has been played on the Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas, since 2023. That was a good golf course, but never mentioned among the best golf courses in the country. For 2026, the event is moving to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. Yes, it is a municipally owned golf course, but it is hardly a muni. It is, in fact, the home of the PGA Tour’s Texas Children’s Houston Open. Having an LPGA event on a course used by the PGA Tour is a win for the women’s tour. The PGA Tour event will be played in Late March, the LPGA major in late April.
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The leap
The jump into Poppie’s Pond next to the 18th green on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course was the trademark of the LPGA major championship, sure to get even SportsCenter on EPSN to show an LPGA highlight. But the leap, started by Amy Alcott and her caddie after her 1988 win in Rancho Mirage, basically ended when the tournament moved to Houston. You can't transplant a lake. Yes, there was a lake on the 18th hole at Carlton Woods, but the tournament had to build a little pier for the players to leap from, and the leap was away from the spectators. Now comes the move to Memorial Park, where there is no lake on the 18th hole. So without a portable swimming pool, the leap that was basically dead after the 2022 move will soon be officially dead.
A new operator
When Kraft let its contract with the tournament expire after the 2014 event, golf management firm IMG came to the rescue to take over the event. But that also will be changing in 2026. IMG is out as operator of the tournament, and a GolfWeek story said the LPGA wants to own the tournament itself. The Astros Golf Foundation, which is involved with the revival of the PGA Tour in Houston, may also operate the LPGA event in coming years. IMG was not universally loved in its time in the desert, but it did save the tournament that could easily have ended after 2014.
So changes came to the LPGA event in the desert after 51 years, and now changes are coming to the Chevron Championship in Houston after just three years. Okay, the tournament in Houston has had little connection left to the event in Rancho Mirage. But golf fans in the desert have to still be wondering exactly why the sponsors and the LPGA couldn’t work a deal to keep some stability in the first major of the year.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at [email protected]. Follow him on Facebook or on X at @larry_bohannan.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: After leaving desert, LPGA's Chevron Championship facing more changes
Continue reading...
